I often hear that this isn't taught in high school, but I've heard this in 3 different classes. I think it depends on the teacher. Cuz it's in the textbook but a lot of the teachers don't teach right from the textbook.
+Kyle Hornung your a pathetic historian! Atrocitys commited on both sides? Lol, the native Americans where practically being exsterminated as a race for hundreds of years without a hint of humanity or shame from America, the native Americans where slaughters in the most brutal ways during this time and you try to make it sound like some kind of just as bad as each other situation. I'm suprised the native Americans did not try harder to prevent fucking annihilation at the hands of the original British settlers and the American empire that followed. And as for you sloppy crap about concentration camps you obviously have simply picked that up from what you've heard and made your own assumptions on it, the concentration camps where set up in South Africa during the Boar wars to house the family'ss of those who rebelled as a method of gaining leverage. By "concentrating" the population they could use this to encourage an end to the insurgency. What you are thinking of is a death camp for systematic extermination, no one was freaking killed in these camps! They where there to Imprisson the population until the Rebels laid down there arms. Now, it was messy and wrong but it is not what you think it is lol. Now I will not hide the atrocity a of the British empire but concidering the size of the empire and the amount of time it was around these death figures are not what they seem, it's like counting all the people who been killed in America since it was founded and then saying this is the death toll that America has brought upon its own people! Does not sound right doesn't it? Plus you would never count what good the British empire did, why do you think India is a democracy? Why do you think it has a railway system? Why do you think it's has such a large industry? Why do you think it's city's are so big? Where did those top university's come from? And of course the Indians have a flourishing population rather than an exstinct one. What did America give to the Natives? And then there is all the other places like Cannada, Singapore, Hong Kong and South Africa. All are decent and developed places (except for South Africa with decent, it's been torn by racial idiocy). And with the BBC, it better than anything you have got! Compare it to Fox News or cnn. The BBC is only valued because It's unbiased, during elections it time slots it's party coverage so as not to be politically unbalanced. So you can lay you ill informed hands of them lol, the fact is that your entire argument is based off reactionary defensiveness and a refusal to admit to wrong without attacking somone else first, I'll admit that a lot of stuff the empire did was SHITTY! Will you do the same for America?
+History Buffs Just FYI, I was taught about this in public School here in Rhode Island in the late 80's/early 90's. Our text books did not get into as much detail as most accounts, but it was taught to us as an atrocity and a low point between the Government and native American relations. To be fair, not much history that I was taught went into much detail. Public school history back then mostly consisted of remembering names and dates and not much else.
+Chameleon1616 your a pathetic historian! Atrocities committed on both sides? lol, the native Americans where practically being exterminated as a race for hundreds of years without a hint of humanity or shame from America, the native Americans where slaughters in the most brutal ways during this time and you try to make it sound like some kind of just as bad as each other situation. I'm suprised the native Americans did not try harder to prevent fucking annihilation at the hands of the original British settlers and the American empire that followed. And as for you sloppy crap about concentration camps you obviously have simply picked that up from what you've heard and made your own assumptions on it, the concentration camps where set up in South Africa during the Boar wars to house the family's of those who rebelled as a method of gaining leverage. By "concentrating" the population they could use this to encourage an end to the insurgency. What you are thinking of is a death camp for systematic extermination, no one was freaking killed in these camps! They where there to Imprison the population until the Rebels laid down there arms. Now, it was messy and wrong but it is not what you think it is lol. Now I will not hide the atrocity a of the British empire but considering the size of the empire and the amount of time it was around these death figures are not what they seem, it's like counting all the people who been killed in America since it was founded and then saying this is the death toll that America has brought upon its own people! Does not sound right doesn't it? Plus you would never count what good the British empire did, why do you think India is a democracy? Why do you think it has a railway system? Why do you think it's has such a large industry? Why do you think it's city's are so big? Where did those top university's come from? And of course the Indians have a flourishing population rather than an extinct one. What did America give to the Natives? And then there is all the other places like Canada, Singapore, Hong Kong and South Africa. All are decent and developed places (except for South Africa with decent, it's been torn by racial idiocy). And with the BBC, it better than anything you have got! Compare it to Fox News or CNN. The BBC is only valued because It's unbiased, during elections it time slots it's party coverage so as not to be politically unbalanced. So you can lay you ill informed hands of them lol, the fact is that your entire argument is based off reactionary defensiveness and a refusal to admit to wrong without attacking someone else first, I'll admit that a lot of stuff the empire did was SHITTY! Will you do the same for America?RE: correction
Actually this event is taught and is covered in American schools. And this is unfortunately not the only time something like this happened. One example happened in my home state of Colorado called the Sand Creek Massacre. After a series of Native raids on wagon trails coming into Colorado. On November 29, 1864, soldiers of the 1st Colorado Volunteer Cavalry Regiment road out and attacked a peaceful native village of Cheyenne and Arapaho, who had nothing to do with the raids. They killed 70-160 innocent people, two-thirds of whom were women and children.
Any time I've been taught American History, the Massacre of Wounded Knee is always brought up at least once. It may not be the case for the classes that you were taught, but it America it's pretty standard practice along with things such as the Trail of Tears and other incidents.
It’s actually not, and depends heavily on where you grew up. My guess is New England, upper Midwest, or west coast. As someone who did learn about it, I was surprised to find this completely absent from the HS curriculum of my new classmates when I went to university in a more rural part of my own state
As a Native American I thank you. Luckily as an Ojibwe we, for the most part, were lucky enough to keep our lands. So we are able to stay on the lands as our forefathers, but even then as I went to high school I was appalled to find not only was our history as a whole (On our own shared lands with non-natives) was practically ignored. To further this it wasn't until around to our reservation's college where I was able to speak with others on this and was able to learn about how they sent us to boarding schools of the like (that's a whole other story together). Things such as the Sandy Lake Tragedy (which I also recommend you read into its... interesting to say the least) are completely ignored as well as the fact that even though our reservations where on our land they had stricken us from our food supply (the rivers contained wild rice) and rights to our old governing ways. Sure it's better the spot we are now but the history of what got us here is completely and utterly tossed to the wind.
Ah, an Anishinaabe, hello, or as we say, Osiyo. And yeah, I'm Tsalagi. The boarding schools. Yep, I know about Carlisle Indian Academy from my great grandfather who was taken from his family when he was 4. A missionary couple took him and them immediately when he was old enough sent him off to Carlisle. He was treated as slave labor before he was sent to Carlisle and then you've heard the stories about that place. Anyway, my whole family was torn apart after the Indian Removal Act of 1830. When they began rounding us up for the Trail Where They Cried, which is what we call Thai deal. So, part of my family got away and hid in the mountains and part got sent to the stockades. It was a mess. That we, the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians have Qualla Boundary at all is pretty incredible. So, I'm not going to complain. My Tsalagi grandfather began teaching me to stalk, track, trap, hunt, and shoot when I was 8. I bought my 1st rifle at 10 and he thought it was time for me to learn to ong distance then. Out came the 30-06. That all led to me going to sniper school and working as a sniper for 15 years. I survived through many battles became of my Grandfather's teaching. I'll stick to that since many of my brothers feel around me. Good luck, and wado.
My name is Dallas, I grew up in the Cree nation in Canada, my Hometown is Named after the Aboriginal tribe, Athabasca. I am a white man who grew up in aboriginal culture. I know all too well of wounded knee, and much more. The elders in my community made it clear to us as children. " This is not your cross to bare, nor will it ever be. Your only obligation is to foster relationships and friendships. That is how you repair what has happened." There is much I mill stand for with and for aboriginal culture. I urge those who do not know to seek out the past, and understand it.
I read that 40 million died on each side in the 400 years up to this event in history. Also, Native Americans are still forced to live on reservation and managed by the U.S. Government. Friend of mine who is Sioux and served in the US Navy brother and nephew were executed on the side of the road in Washington state in 1992/93. They are still oppressed.
Thank you for making this video and speaking about something no one is. There are so many stories that need light shed on, but will unfortunately will never be spoken of. We need more truths told about us. We were manicured and no one seems to know or care.continue the work please and don't stop with this video. We need more people who are not of native decent to speak up. Thank you.
Gotta correct one thing you mention: the lifestyle of the Plains Indians had not existed for thousands of years. For example, only in the 1700s did the Lakota Sioux move onto the Great Plains permanently. Prior to that the Natives who would become the Plains Indians were mostly seasonal farmers who occasionally ventured onto the Plains to hunt. The habit of following the bison around as nomads only became possible when the Natives had horses, which were only present in the Americas since the 1500s. Obviously this does not excuse what happened to them in any way, shape or form. It's just a factual correction.
Not exactly, the Native Americans were still able to hunt buffalo before the Spanish introduced horses, It was just a lot harder for them, and they used different tactics. One such tactic is they would disguise themselves as a predator and run them off a cliff.
1:39 Hey cool! I got a shout out :D This is just a thank you note from a Maori history enthusiast who was inspired by your channel. You're a great communicator and a great teacher
I'm a Northern Cheyenne (Sand Creek Massacre), and an Oglala Sioux (See above). I'm just very glad you decided to make a separate video on this, as linking it to a movie isn't really necessary in my opinion, and allowed you to really flex on your last point (Which is a pretty good one, mind you.) Thank you :)
No this was taught in my school at least, it was referred to as a massacre and not much was sugar coated. Nebraska, at least puts a lot of native history in the books.
Fellow Nebraskan here and I agree. I don't remember too many punches being pulled about American history when I was growing up (was in school from 2000-2013). Both slavery and native history covered pretty extensively.
when i went to High School in California back in early 1980's and we were taught this! This is one of the biggest reasons why i am against gun control! these people were disarmed and look what happened!
I discovered your channel yesterday and have already binged on quite a lot of it. My fondness for history was fostered very early on by a couple teachers who themselves were disillusioned with the romanticized version of history they were taught. With that in mind, I have a few things to say. In schools in the U.S., regulation isn't micromanagement. What I mean is, teachers have to hit milestones in what they teach, but day to day, they have a lot of room to maneuver. As for US history, the main points are American Revolution > Formation of the government > War of 1812 (sometimes) > Mexican - American War (Rarely) > Civil War > Reconstruction > Indian Wars (usually covered in just a page or so) > Spanish American War / Imperialism > World War 1 > Conditions following > Roaring twenties > Great Depression > World War 2 > Korean War > Civil Rights Movement > Vietnam War > Persian Gulf War. In my last few years of high school I noticed later chapters adding sections about terrorism and the war in Iraq and the one in Afghanistan. Teachers will often go in depth or add a week or two of content on subjects they feel are underrepresented, and that's why the level of education for history is very inconsistent. The people below are in a minority, though they make it sound otherwise. Like many of them, I moved from State to State and took US History roughly eight times. A lot of Americans will find this ironic, but one of the States I saw better history education from was Texas - which is funny because most Americans (particularly in northern States) view Texas in a not so positive light when it comes to this sort of thing, for a few reasons. New Mexico had the best history education I experienced. Because many people there have mixed heritages, the history book there for State history was remarkably impartial. It explained what happened and why and how; it didn't justify or paint anything in a positive light. It excluded the more atrocious and gruesome crimes and actions of the past, but I imagine this was done because it was meant to be taught to young children. Even then the teacher picked up the book's slack and thoroughly explained a lot of things. A lot of Americans don't know about a lot of American wars. It's certainly a lot more than what I listed up there. Between the Philippine American war and the first and second war with Tripoli and the Indian Wars, it's not harped on a lot in modern American society. But I disagree with the implication that this is a product of the schools. American schools have a LOT of problems. I've seen ceiling tiles fall onto student heads and still nothing was done about it.But when it comes to the curriculum I've seen many teachers try their hearts out to teach their students that these things happened and how real it was. Personally I attribute it to a lack of empathy a lot of people have for the past. No one imagines the feeling of a 17 year old private as he hears the command to march against a wall of gunfire, or the hopelessness of the many last stands throughout history. They miss the human side of it all. That's not their fault - it's just a hard thing to do from a textbook. As an American soldier, who has to pore over old battle strategies and on the role of a soldier in essays and boards, I also disagree with the implication that the soldiers who attacked the natives at Wounded Knee were all racist folks who wanted nothing more than to drive the natives into submission. From that statement, it wouldn't be a stretch to make a similar statement about the modern conflict in the middle East, and honestly I hear that all the time. I'm positive that some of the men were racist, if not only superficially. Even that is something of a defense mechanism that soldiers have. I hear it today. A lot of the more ignorant men here make racist comments that I as another soldier, am entirely uncomfortable with. In fact, the majority are. Even older enlisted men and senior officers will go out of their way to correct a soldier who crosses the line in these comments and jokes. We (the US military) borrow a lot of our culture and structure from our predecessors in the late 19th century. I find it hard to believe that the men at wounded knee were all uniform in their beliefs or even backgrounds. That's just something I feel compelled to add. Still, I love your content and look forward to future uploads. You've even introduced me to new films that I'm sad I missed. Also pleaaaaaaase review the Alamo. There's a couple of moments in there are creative liberties but I really want to see your take on it. Thanks for your channel!
This isn't just an isolated historical event. It is one experience on a continuum of oppression that continues to this day. Find History Buffs' examination of _Dances with Wolves_ which, in addition to reviewing the film, also includes an extended look at the current clash between the oil industry and peaceful protesters over the Dakota Access Pipeline. You will learn that nothing has changed. If we look back at Wounded Knee and try to justify it by "out-dated attitudes of the time", then how do we explain the same attitudes being displayed to this very day?
You had a teacher who probably lied to you. The Spanish American War, particularly the Philippines insurgency and the US victory is one of the worst covered piece of history
i tried reading the book got to the second chapter and had to hand it over to some-one else to read because my hatred for the human race exploded.i couldn't read any more than that. a question i ask people who talk about the native americans is 'how many tribes can you name...they 'maybe' get to tghree before going eeeerrr. when yiou tell them there were more than 300 really shocks them.
"Bury my Heart at Wounded Knee" is one of the best and most eye-opening books I've ever experienced, and I frankly feel it should be mandatory reading in schools. Patriotism is fine and good, but blind patriotism with no proper context does no one a service.
it just sickens me that the sufferings of native americans goes unheard and unseen...... this needs to be brought to light and bring justice to these poor people who were only defending their freedom and way of life.
The quality of your videos is amazing in under a year you have nearly 70k subs, i really enjoy your content. I mean seriously i've been watching you vids for like 4 hrs straight and i'm still going. Keep up the good work
in the aftermath of the tragic shooting in Orlando, i think the native indians would have sumthing to say about the mainstream media claiming it to be the worst shooting in American history but anyway, i knew a bit about wounded knee but u have done a really good job getting the facts right and putting it in prospective, looking into more about it myself, i came across the 2nd battle of wounded knee in 1973, which is another fascinating story in its own right, the native indians took over the town of wounded knee and had a big stand off with the FBI.
Hello Mr. Hodges. Enjoyed your video and finally found your channel. I'm a Navajo out from Arizona and I gotta say, your insight about this specific event was quite detailed and had some interesting thoughts and opinions, especially coming from someone who is not of this country. Not many non-Natives/Indigenous people in the U.S. don't like to talk about this subject and other events for some reason, other than guilt. But you are able to look at things objectively and even acknowledge your own countries' atrocities, which is admirable. You've probably done research on other events but this certainly reminds me of the Long Walk for my Navajo people or even the Trail of Tears for the Cherokees as far as massacres and atrocities. Many tribes are doing all they can to uphold their language, teachings, and ceremonies with what little they have. Then there are those unfortunate tribes who have completely loss their identity, including their culture, traditions and elders. Thank you for being one of the few that are understanding of our plight. Been listening to you since the Spill/Loading Bar days and finally got the update of your whereabouts from Rageselect with Jeff. But I'm a fan yours and glad you got your own channel up and running, especially about history. Keep it up man.
Hi Johnathan! I just want to say sorry for not replying to your comment sooner but I just want to say thank you so much for your comment. It really moved me and it's so cool to hear that you have been supporting me on The Loading Bar, Rage Select and even coming over to my little channel :). I have always been fascinated by Native American culture and history and to be commended by a Navajo seriously made my day! It's a crying shame that young people are losing touch with their tribal identity, especially one as rich as yours. I've seen social programs though with Native Americans working together with Maori from New Zealand and it gives me a little hope since the Maori have taken great steps to hold onto their culture and still speak their language.
Definitely, it is really great to see and hear how the Maori were successful in retaining much of their culture and language and even working with us Native American/Indigenous tribes here in the U.S. in preserving what we can. But it's all good. I didn't actually think you would respond since you would be busy creating more content, but cool and thank you in that way. I've never actually had contact from someone in a well-known entertainment show such as Spill or Rageselect. Keep going and I am really enjoying the various historical movies that you are tackling. There are many facts that I didn't even know about, such as The Last Samurai. But if you ever do a video regarding films about Native Americans or Indigenous tribes around the world, such as Apocalypto or even the Disney version of Pocahontas, I will definitely support your content in some way. Our portrayal in large, Hollywood style films still has many inaccurate details that mimic old films with caricature and stereotypical native characters. The closest major Hollywood films in being accurate are Dances With Wolves and Last of the Mohicans. But this little video you made says a lot about the disrespect tribes are still getting today from non-Natives, especially the part when you were talking about the amount of distributed Medals of Honor to soldiers back then compared to now.
Don't even worry about it mate. I can assure you that I do not see myself that way lol. I'm not as responsive as I would like to be because I'm always working on the next video. Every time I'm close to burning out, comments like yours see me through :) And strangely enough, I am doing a video about Native Americans.My next film review will 1492 Conquest of Paradise which is about Christopher Columbus's voyage into the New World and the terrible atrocities he committed. It's coming out after my review for 300, which will be released in the next day or so. I do want to say though that Dances with Wolves was the film that made me become fascinated with Native American culture in the first place. I have always wanted to see the real America as portrayed in that movie. Go to the reservation and see the gorgeous landscape. Meet Native Americans and eat their food. Been a dream of mine always and one day I will. By the way, if you want to see a movie about the Maori, watch Once Were Warriors. Brutal film but awesome!
The content you are creating is absolutely wonderful and informative. It's great to see someone who can describe what they're talking about, especially about historical events, in a format that comes from how they feel about the subject. Instead of being limited to what they can talk about or be considerate of profanity. But hey, glad to be of help as a fan. This next review sounds exciting considering a few weeks ago was technically Columbus Day, which is somehow still a thing. The days prior to Columbus Day had many Indigenous Tribes push to have their local governments or school change the day to Indigenous Peoples' Day; some succeeded. Many misconceptions are still present when talking about his voyage and "discovery." But with all the negativity, we still have some things and some land that we call home and some of us are still located in our original homelands. But those locations are beautiful and the food is awesome so when you definitely get the chance, check it out brah. Heck you can start out here on the Navajo Nation with many locations used in westerns. One big food item many tribes like is frybread. It has many different iterations and may not be healthy, but it's good. But wow, that's an awesome movie recommendation that I never even heard of and even has Temuera Morrison in it and it is brutal, damn. Since it's about the Maori, it reminds me of the movie Whale Rider also. But dude, I can make all kinds of recommendations when talking about films about Natives in the U.S. I don't know if you heard of Smoke Signals but that is a famous one among many tribes.
Wounded Knee was horrific. So was SandCreek, Nat Turner's Rebellion, and dozens of others massacres in 19th century American history. Wounded Knee was not unique, not a one-off. It was the final bloodletting in a long string of massacres stretching back almost 400 years. Massacres that involved the Spanish, Portuguese, English, and finally, Americans.
The "battle" of wounded knee was one of the darkest moment in north america's history. Moments like this in history define a people for generations. But all mistakes, no matter how dark, can be corrected by future generations. Ps, if anyone says that Nick is a weak person for being sad, i would like to share with you this quote by Maya angelou. I've learned the people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.
Or you could read the book from which the HBO documentary is taken, Dee Brown's "Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee". Much of his research material was documents preserved by various American government authorities, and he notes in passing that they were proud of what they had done and specifically took care to keep the records. It is not a comfortable book to read, and was even less so in the '70's when it first came out.
Trust me I am American, our "history" classes are a joke. We know jack shit unless we chose to learn it on our own time and most don't. In grade 7 I knew more than my history teacher. It pissed her off so much that I was banished from class and made to sit at a desk in the hall all that year. Even though I was excluded I still aced the class without learning anything. I'm not saying this to try to sound smart, (I'm no brighter than the next guy) but to explain the reality here.
Yeah my history "class" last year was complete shit all my "teacher" did was make us do book work and not even teach us. And she made sure to drive home the "fact" that America is the most evil country ever. Heck I got sent out just for calling her out on her bs. But at least I Aced that class.
You are lucky she was not spiteful. Lots of college students are claiming they are being failed for not towing the America is evil line. I'd love to drop these spoiled liberal assholes in one of the many countries people are literally dying attempting to escape from and then how much they hate America. Lets see how say... Nancy Pelosi fares in Iran.
+shanes channel Shanes, my 12 year old is like you. He knows so much more about history that the teacher has asked him not to comment about what they read. I went one better and met with school authorities about that issue. My son is respectful and just points out that the books are often misleading and many times inaccurate. Since it's a private school I have had success somewhat and my son has got a bunch of the kids more interested in History!!
I was "taught" about this in school, but way different from the truth. They taught that the Natives ambushed the unexpecting American army. When I heard the truth a few years ago, I was obviously horrified.
Most people who have paid attention in school have heard of Wounded Knee and many people knew of the book "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee" back in the 70s. It reached cultural saturation. Most people know it was a slaughter, but perhaps aren't familiar with the background, so your details were very instructive.
You're also looking at this in hindsight from a modern and removed point of view that has access to more information. I am not justifying the calvary's actions but how long had that military cadre been out there? How many battles had they seen? We're any of them suffering from what we now know as PTSD? They could've been on edge and all it took was a single misfire from a gun and all hell broke loose with a lot of confusion, evident from the fact mention that the calvarymen who died were as a result of friendly fire. I think it was something that just spiraled out of control and ended in tragedy.
The movie "Hidalgo" tries to portray a stand in of Wounded Knee. I'd be interested to see a review of that film. In it we are supposed to buy that blond Danish actor Viggo Mortensen is part Native American but... Whatever. It has Omar Sharief in one of his last film roles.
I'm not sure any person alive now should feel guilty about what their ancestors did. They weren't there, it wasn't them. A modern day American had as much to do with this atrocity as I did with atrocities in India. However and it's a big however, we have to acknowledge that this stuff happened so that it doesn't happen again. Teaching our children the truth about history is important. Too often governments sanction a propaganda style of history that makes a country look righteous.
+David Fisher That's the way of thinking that makes people repeat these horrific actions again and again. If you feel responsible for this, you will never do this. If you want to forget it, you'll forget the horror of it, and it will be easier to excuse people doing it again.
Midorikonokami he can't forget the horror of this if he hasn't ever even experienced it, and I think it's safe to say people tend not to commit atrocities like this not because they have felt responsible for past atrocities but because they can fell sympathy for their fellow human and fell regret for what they have done, not what their ancestors have
A few important points: 1) The Plains Indians' nomadic way of life did not appear until horses arrived on the Continent. Before they arrived, the plains Indians were more settled and agrarian. 2) The Plains Indians saw control of land as temporary. The strongest tribes would take the best lands and game by force, and it was almost like a sport. The notion of owning land was utterly foreign to the Americans. 3) The Ghost Dance was the product of a solar eclipse, which an Indian named Wovoka claimed was taught to him by great spirits who promised to turn back the clock. It was embraced by many Indians, partly because of its promises, but also because of his seemingly supernatural personality and charisma. The government was confused at first at how to react to it because it was so bizarre and over-the-top. 4) There are two other big names in the story: Chief Sitting Bull, who was arrested by Indians, and shot by a rival, stoking tensions when people began suggesting the Federal Government had used the Indians as a tool of assassination. Chief Hump, who had not left the reservation yet, was approached by an old friend in the army, and willingly stood down his warriors. 5) The leader of the band at Wounded Knee was Chief Big Foot. He fled into the Badlands, which were barren lands with no real resources, with 106 warriors. He bumped into the 7th Cavalry by mistake, and he asked for a parley, not the Cavalry. 6) Big Foot was suffering from pneumonia when the Cavalry discovered them, and his band was close to starving and freezing in the wilderness without food. The cavalry pointed out the hopelessness of his position, and he agreed to surrender. Both sides were short on supplies, but they traveled to Wounded Knee to help him recover enough of his health for the journey home. The Cavalry had their regimental surgeon attend to him. 7) Wounded Knee is a creek, and the site of the battle only had a post office at that time. With both sides low on supplies, and the weather turning colder, they needed to leave as soon as possible. Time was not on their side, and the Cavalry was in a hurry. 8) Since Big Foot had formally surrendered, the Cavalry expected the Indians to surrender their arms. The Indians only produced 20 non-functioning rifles. For a party of 106 warriors. The Cavalry searched the tents, but only found 40 altogether. 9) A medicine man named Yellow Bird was in the camp, and while the tents were being searched, he encouraged the warriors to fight, because they had their ghost dance shirts on, which they believed would stop bullets. The warriors were squatting on blankets, and when a cavalryman looked underneath one, the warrior (named Black Fox) whipped out his rifle and fired into the group. The other warriors grabbed their weapons, also concealed under their blankets, and attacked the cavalry. The cavalry fired back with their cannons and rifles, and the Sioux attacked with their tomahawks. 10) The Cavalry did massacre the Indians, just in retaliation for their treachery. Their haste to leave had left tensions high, and the hiding of weapons under blankets was the final straw. 11) Wounded Knee was the first true test of the Ghost Dance, and its failure spelled the end of the Indian Wars. So there actually was a battle, and the Indians did start it with a pre-planned ambush, and the massacre was not in cold blood. 'Bury my Heart at Wounded Knee' does not hold the Indians accountable for their treachery in surrender. It's nice-sounding, but it's more like 'Kingdom of Heaven' in its attempts to demonize one side.
We had a Native American History elective in my town's high school in east central Wisconsin back in 1975. Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee was part of the required reading. I never regretted taking that class.
This was a great review, Nick. You honor Native people by telling a factual narrative about a terrible injustice. Your channel is excellent. Keep up the good work man.
Awesome channel nick, I'm a history buff myself, I'm also Native. Sisseton Sioux wappheton tribe south Dakota, Thanks for talking about the battle of wounded knee, rarely talked about. It's believed that some of my relatives were killed there also. Hard to know because most natives lost there real names and given "white mans" names and it's hard to find our true elders from those times. So basically rely on parents and grandparents for our original native last name. It's a tough but beautiful history sometimes. We even still hold old traditional prayers and dance. Anyways thanks alot for making this video. From an old spillio/loadingbar fan Thanks and keep em coming.
guitarbeast651 Thanks mate! Really sorry that your family went through so much hardship. I hope things improve for you and for all the other Sioux on these reservations. Keep holding onto your traditions and dance. I am worried that they might disappear entirely, which would be absolutely heart-breaking if they did. From the little I have seen in movies when I was a kid, really captured my imagination.
I will not judge a people for what wrong their ancestors have done. I *will* judge a people for celebrating what wrong their ancestors have done. Happy Thanksgiving.
Zap Gun yes, let's whitewash history even further by ignoring our own history because "muh 'trocities". Boo hoo, bad people did great things for the world, get over it. Remember Charlemagne? Remember how he slaughtered pagans like it was his hobby? Oh yea, he also formed modern day France and the Holy Roman Empire and paved way for the reconquista hundreds of years later. But who cares about that part of history, right?
Pladimir Vutin please excuse me for not quite grasping your meaning here. This comment is phrased as though it is an agitated retort, strongly disagreeing with my statement. Its contents, however, seem to fall directly in line with what I said. Pray tell, which is it?
You are right but Bill O'Reilly would do his campaign about "Obama hating american veterans and patriots" or something and argue that those native americans are to blame for the massacre. Guys like him are taking what they can get to higher tensions.
We covered Little Big Horn, Wounded Knee, Trail of Tears, Tecumseh and The Prophet (Tenskwatawa), etc., etc. in US history and Ohio history back in the early '90s in middle school.
Here in America, especially since the middle to late '90s Wounded Knee is pretty standard fair in high school history classrooms. Unfortunately it's usually paired with Custer's last stand as a way to demonstrate that both sides committed atrocities, even though there is 100 Wounded Knees for every Custer.
AS A canadian Native learning history in school in Canada was even worse basically "when you think of a native what do you first think of?" a question my history teacher actually asked the class and basically i have never felt so humiliated and it got quite racist . The teacher said oh your native why didn't you say anything. I strongly suggest to watch the HBO series bury my heart at wounded knee its a great movie great book
And a very sad one. I'm a christian and I should not get mad at people, but I just can't understand how people can be so cruel when it comes to other races. Just.... WHY?
I recently subscribed to your channel and found this while going through your videos. While I don't often comment via youtube, I want to sincerely thank you for bringing this to light. As a Native American, so many emotions are brought to the front when these topics are still completely whitewashed in our day and age. Thank you for this video and for helping others see what this event truly was and is - a massacre. Qe'ci'yew'yew. (Thank you)
History Buffs Glad to hear. I'm not sure if you're familiar with reddit.com, but if you're interested, feel free to check out a community forum that I help moderate that is about Native Americans and our culture(s). We host a variety of content concerning activism, history, education, language, news, and much more. Link: www.reddit.com/r/IndianCountry (Not to be confused with Indians from India, as we often get, haha.)
+History Buffs My history lecturer is in love with Native American culture and history too. I mean she lied about her age so she could watch Soldier Blue.
Most excellent podcast Nick! I've been watching many of your History Buffs videos and they are fantastic. I wonder, have you happened to have read the book, Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee? I read it in high school (years ago in Canada) and read it again about 8 years ago. I thought it a great rendering of the tremendous tragedy of those times. Cheers!
Something you didn't touch on in this video that to me is important is the role of Wovoca (please correct my spelling if it is wrong) and the ghost shirts. Wovoca told the People that the ghost shirts would protect them from the blue shirts guns and that understandable made the soldiers nervous. He was also preaching that the God of the White Men had given him a vision of a return to the past. The television show Into the West is told from both the White side as well as the Native American side and it does a great job in explaining the point of view of both sides.
I remember learning about Wounded Knee, The Bakers Massacre, The Trail of tears, and the 1980's incident at Wounded Knee in school. Just wanted to bring that up 0_0
Thank you for elucidating this terrible wrong. As an American I am chagrined that this government would not repudiate such a staggering crime. How can the US government condemn crimes like the Katyn forest massacre as long as the perpetrators of this atrocity are honored?
I read the book "bury my heart at wounded knee" many years ago. Still stays with me. It all comes down to ' Mans inhumanity to man' … every race and Country has been guilty of this at some time. We should learn from it and move on ….hopefully to become better people..
@@azynkron Went to a private college prep school. Never heard anything of the battle of wounded knee; only parts of King Philips war and straight into the west gold mining industry in order to meet test deadlines.
I heard about this in an my military history class in high school. Our teacher did not shy away from the shameful moments in history. I've never heard of it referred to as a battle.
Thank you for this! My grandma had to flee to Canada to escape the government killings. I'm Sioux & Ojibway, I haven't even been to the Dakota lands. I really want to go and find some of my family. Thank you.
Mrs. Hodges, I know you put a lot of time and effort in to putting content together to educate us on historical facts but this kind of “podcast” style of video is still very important to me and I don’t mind the lack of animations, you are so well known for doing that but, I don’t mind just getting the facts. Please keep up the amazing work you do, your work has inspired me to dig deeper into the subject and I want to know more about any subject you discuss. Thank you Nick.
This is something that is OFTEN taught in schools, and so is quite a bit of the history of the American Indian and their interaction with the European settlers/American nationals, with subjects such as this as well as others like the trail of tears getting quite a bit of focus. By starting off on such a broad stroke and just assuming that the atrocities of a peoples forefathers aren't taught as lessons in actions never to be repeated, while you profess that it isn't your intention, this certainly comes off as European finger wagging in what has seemed to become a popular trend. Yet again, while you may not intend it, by starting something off by telling many of your listeners what you assume they don't know about their own history, it is condescending. It isn't the intention but the action that does the damage, after all. Trying to be polite yet direct on TH-cam. Not sure if that still works.
It is often taught. Every atrocity committed by whites against other ethnic groups is almost eagerly taught and piled on students, it's like a misplaced method of atonement. It should be covered but sometimes I feel that's it's all we hear about now, and I feel like that's what's pushing g us more toward socialism.
+Doc Awful We dont learn about this specific event at all in our high schools, not even in the AP classes. Most related material is glossed over at best.
Michael B "Our high schools". You are clearly wrong. You mean YOUR highschool. Mine wasn't garbage, and my teacher wasn't either. Your anecdotal evidence doesn't apply to all.
I agree 100% with what you are saying! I visited wounded knee in 2008 and talked to the locals and it's just unbelievable that no action has been taken so far. I applaud that you bring this to our attention! I also recommend the movie Thunderhart, though fiction it gives you an idea of peoples heart and mindset.
I downloaded the book, “Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee,” from Amazon Kindle store. I believe it’s still free for Prime members for anyone interested in Wounded Knee.
My Middle School teacher in 7th and 8th grade name is Mr. Tanaka, and when he taught American history he did not shy away from terrible things that whites did to the natives. He play this TNT miniseries called Into The West and it was great. It did not shy from how terrible the white treated the natives, and they treated races. "The plot follows the story of two families, one white American, one Native American, as their lives become mingled through the momentous events of American expansion. The story intertwines real and fictional characters and events spanning the period of expansion of the United States in the American West, from 1825 to 1890," (wiki). This is series has stock with me for long, and I will never forget the horrific scenes it showed, and its brutal honesty. This show, and along with my teacher Tanaka teachings opened my eyes, at a young age, the truth of how America was made. This show is only 6 episodes long but it covers a lot in all of them from America's achievements, its brutal truths behind those achievements, and its "treatment" of the Native Americans all the way to the Ghost Dance massacre. I highly recommend this series you Nick, please check it and let me know what you think of it. You can find all 6 episodes on TH-cam, their quality is 360p and you can probably find better quality else where, but still please watch it. Thank you for your time.
Great video. My school taught it. The Medal of Honor- from the civil war to WW I was the only medal available to be awarded. WW I the instituted the Distinguished Service Cross. So before that it was either the MOH or nothing. When they rescinded the 700+ MOH most (if not all) were awarded for non valor actions ( 200+ were awarded to a unit who re-enlisted during the civil war). What Sen McCain meant was since these were awarded for acts of valor (?) not acts of service the policy is not to question if they deserved the award based on today's criteria.
I never had a single US History teacher who skipped over this. I remember questioning all of them at one point over why they went over such a horrible point in US History, and they all gave pretty much the same response that has stuck to me into my adult years. They said: “the purpose of true history is not to glorify, exaggerate, deviate from the truth, or lie in any way. That is the job of politicians. History is meant to report events exactly as they happened without bias, omission, or the altering of details. For a historian to do so is to betray their duty to their loved ones, future generations, and humanity as a whole.” They teach us this so we never let it happen again.
Atleast in my Highschool it was mentioned briefly while we were learning about that time period. From what I remember it was generic outline and did label it as Battle of Wounded Knee and not a massacre, as in, the Native Americans provoked the fight and Americans totally defended themselves. We need to all realize that Native Americans were here first and give them respect.
If medals were handed out so abundantly as you suggest at 9:40, then doesn't that make the request to pull them less meaningful? Apparently they weren't meaningful to begin with and only achieved this kind of meaning and status much later.
I just want to add that the good old days of native Americans, when they were free, rode around, and hunted buffaloes, did never exist. The natives were already farmers when the Europeans arrived. They brought horses to America and the natives took advantage of them. It was a military advantage. The tribes with horses were able to conquer and pillage the other tribes. It was not a peaceful society, just like the antique European tribalism wasn't peaceful. Not before and not after the Europeans came to America. And what caused the buffaloes to cease was not the work of some evil white people. The natives used horses and firearms to hunt the buffaloes in greater number than it was ever possible before. This is not an excuse for massacres against the natives, of course. But it's also a common misconception to see them as some kind of perfectly balanced peaceful utopian society. But, and that's the most important part, such war crimes against civilians are NEVER okay, regardless of the context.
+Nickname hier einfügen Actually the Americans did hunt down large numbers of Buffalo. It became entertainment while riding on trains to sit in a special car and just pick off Buffalo as they passed (Buffalo also do not flee like deer when shot, but form a defensive line around their shot fellow buffalo). Between the Americans and the Native Americans hunting, that is what almost drove the Buffalo extinct.
***** I partially agree, although I'm sure that many native tribes wiped out other tribes long before the Europeans came. Which could be seen as genocide, too. Also keep in mind that ~ 90% of the Native Americans died of the diseases which came with the European settlers and African slaves to America. So it wasn't an intentional genocide at least. But again: I don't want to downplay the actual war crimes. The massacres (Wounded Knee, Trail of Tears, etc.) were horrible crimes and should be seen as such. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbian_Exchange#Disease
+Nickname hier einfügen Native American warfare was pretty chilling in its brutality. Attacks on what we would call "civilians" were the norm. Raids were conducted to enslave fertile women and abduct healthy children. People were living in harsh and marginal environments, and infant mortality was high, so healthy children were highly sought after to be indoctrinated into their abductor's tribe. This is mostly the plains cultures. The settled eastern farmers fought over fertile land just like Europeans did. Not to mention the great Mesoamerican cultures. The Aztecs warred for captives for human sacrifice. I've been to Chichen Itza and seen the stone carvings depicting those ceremonies, they are highly stylized yet still horrific. Not trying downplay the genocidal massacres like Wounded Knee. Just saying that the noble savage idea of Native Americans found in literature and even modern media is pure fiction. They were people just like anywhere else.
+Nickname hier einfügen It might have something to do with how Buffalo were viewed as parasite-filled mutated cows that were best used as target practice from the trains? I've seen pictures of fields of dead buffalo, for no reason. Then there are the pictures where the buffalo had just their hides taken off, and the meat left behind to rot. I'm not going to defend their lifestyle; but it's obvious to me that you have no respect for it, either.
I'm glad that you did a video on this. A lot of the textbooks I read as a kid would say battle and that always pissed me off. You might be interested in the 1973 Takeover of Wounded Knee Creek by the America Indian Movement.
Although I sympathize with my history teacher in high school, given his circumstances involving insane teenagers, you have taught me more in three days than what I learnt in school over several years.
First time I heard about Wounded Knee was when I was in Sophomore year of high school. Crazy thing was I didn’t learn about it in school. I learned about it when playing a video game called Bioshock: Infinite.
It's actually a terrible book historically. His rather moronic critique of Lincoln's decision to execute 37 Lakota who committed murder on a scale three times as worse as a Wounded Knee destroys his credibility. The man defends murderers of unarmed men, women, and children. Dee Brown is hypocritical cad.
I disagree. Brown befriended many native Americans and knew what he was writing about. Just because you don't share his oppinion doesn't mean he's a moron. Rather the opposite.
As an native American indian, as the United States government has now told us we are to be designated as, thank you for making this video. It is taught in American middle and high schools. However the version that is taught and officially okayed differs pretty drastically from the version that historians and actual reservations tell. I realize it's been 6 years since you posted this but thank you
Read Dee Brown's book in my younger years. I basically cried all the way through to the last pages. His non sentimental style, just stating facts, makes it even more hard to read. Indeed, those days, when the West was won, is a shameful chapter of the Western world. And what is done to native Americans today is by no means better. They are not killed as such, but deprived of a decent life.
Sadly, this has usually been the story of civilization - conquest and assimilation. It's been going on since the beginning of civilization but it hits home more solidly when it happened only a few generations ago and involved our own ancestors.
What we do today is no better? I know lots still live on reservations and im not even remotely trying to justify that but we dont purposefully give them smallpox, we dont raid their settlements, we dont slaughter encampments and bury them in mass graves. Theres definitely been strides forward.
This is why all those memorials to these soldiers and leaders like Custer should be taken down. 7th Cavalry was Custer's old regiment afterall and he was a buctherer almost without peer perhaps Sherman could come close. I mean they're taking down monuments on cemetaries in the South just because those soldiers fought for their homes the 7th cavalry did not fight for their homes at all!
Andrew Olson they teach about the Great Purge later high school years, but the Russian Revolution and the rise and fall of the Soviet Union during the Cold War are usually talked about in middle school
Andrew Olson the version of history that is taught is really a mashup of Zinn’s version and other versions that have a more positive view on American history
I'm currently studying American history in college, and the Massacre at Wounded Knee is just an awful event I can picture when I think about the Natives.
As a Historian, you should know that it's not a good idea to scrub records. To remove that medal of honor is to cover up stains in our history, a stain we should always remember and learn from.
I don't agree. To remove the medal of honor is a clear and unmistakable sign that not only does the US condemn the massacre with words but also with actions. The only way to cover this up is by not teaching what happened to children in school not rescinding medals.
@@Senshinobi no stupid we are not just going to start removing medals from people from long ago in the past because of a current narrative now…it will be the same thing happening to veterans you know now in the future once the standards start to change again…it’s a meaningless gesture that will causes nothing but division…use your brain
my ancestor private Charles William O'Hara was there after the massacure he became a massive drunk and depressed because of some of the things they did none of the family we even talked about it because how embarrassed they were of it
When I was in school I learned about Wounded Knee. That time period in American history fascinates me, and as does the aftermath of Wounded Knee. And I believe that there are lessons to be learned from Wounded Knee, both before and after. But as you had mentioned too many are uncomfortable and I think just want to sweep it under the rug.
Not gonna lie as a native it sucks being in America. So much abuse and people telling me to go back to my country.... some imaginary place somewhere, not the place my family goes back 30 thousand years at..
Poor guy. He's discovering actual unromanticized history. Keep digging deeper, it's not a pretty sight, but a real one. “There is no document of civilization that is not also a document of barbarism.” - Walter Benjamin
@@sockshistorychanel7715 I do agree, but It's mostly my opinion. I haven't studied the history of the world enough to be able to make that remark as being factual, and it's got big contenders to that position. I think it might be a case of hyperfocus on the US because it's the most relevant to us now, being the current holder of the world political and economical hegemony.
truly a tragic event in American history. I was taught about this from my parents who went to great lengths to educate my siblings and I about the whole sweep of American history. I love my country in spite of crimes like this. fighting for real change in my homeland starts by acknowledging the mistakes of the past, then working to ensure it never happens again.
+RaitoYagami88 Yeh like NativeDelight said they did have horses, the native american way of life was to go to war and to steal, they stole a lot of horses and they traded with homesteaders and hunters for such things as the rifles which he talks about that they had, but before that they purely relied on arrows etc.
TheGrund well, yeah, but it is still after the contact with western world. Before it, they couldn't 'rode across the prairies', like the guy in video said. Considering that this is a channel about history i think it is appropriate to be nitpicky about details like that)
+Kim Katsu Well yeh i have to agree, but they must have had some horses because i was reading a textbook about it that they can hook up a horse to the Tipi that they live in and just pull it away in case of emergencies but to be honest i have no idea what they used before the western world contacted them.
As a Brit from Yorkshire I have always had great admiration and gratitude for the people of the USA. I always will have. I also understand that countries like mine have perpetrated acts of terrible wickedness in the past. The medals should be recinded. Pride often prevents reconciliation where humility heals.
I often hear that this isn't taught in high school, but I've heard this in 3 different classes. I think it depends on the teacher. Cuz it's in the textbook but a lot of the teachers don't teach right from the textbook.
You're absolutely right, I think it varies. Many Americans tell me they had never heard of it but some that they were taught about it in school
+Eric Jesperson We have a habit of editing our history books. Some even call slavery a migration for work.
+Kyle Hornung your a pathetic historian! Atrocitys commited on both sides? Lol, the native Americans where practically being exsterminated as a race for hundreds of years without a hint of humanity or shame from America, the native Americans where slaughters in the most brutal ways during this time and you try to make it sound like some kind of just as bad as each other situation. I'm suprised the native Americans did not try harder to prevent fucking annihilation at the hands of the original British settlers and the American empire that followed. And as for you sloppy crap about concentration camps you obviously have simply picked that up from what you've heard and made your own assumptions on it, the concentration camps where set up in South Africa during the Boar wars to house the family'ss of those who rebelled as a method of gaining leverage. By "concentrating" the population they could use this to encourage an end to the insurgency. What you are thinking of is a death camp for systematic extermination, no one was freaking killed in these camps! They where there to Imprisson the population until the Rebels laid down there arms. Now, it was messy and wrong but it is not what you think it is lol. Now I will not hide the atrocity a of the British empire but concidering the size of the empire and the amount of time it was around these death figures are not what they seem, it's like counting all the people who been killed in America since it was founded and then saying this is the death toll that America has brought upon its own people! Does not sound right doesn't it? Plus you would never count what good the British empire did, why do you think India is a democracy? Why do you think it has a railway system? Why do you think it's has such a large industry? Why do you think it's city's are so big? Where did those top university's come from? And of course the Indians have a flourishing population rather than an exstinct one. What did America give to the Natives? And then there is all the other places like Cannada, Singapore, Hong Kong and South Africa. All are decent and developed places (except for South Africa with decent, it's been torn by racial idiocy). And with the BBC, it better than anything you have got! Compare it to Fox News or cnn. The BBC is only valued because It's unbiased, during elections it time slots it's party coverage so as not to be politically unbalanced. So you can lay you ill informed hands of them lol, the fact is that your entire argument is based off reactionary defensiveness and a refusal to admit to wrong without attacking somone else first, I'll admit that a lot of stuff the empire did was SHITTY! Will you do the same for America?
+History Buffs Just FYI, I was taught about this in public School here in Rhode Island in the late 80's/early 90's. Our text books did not get into as much detail as most accounts, but it was taught to us as an atrocity and a low point between the Government and native American relations. To be fair, not much history that I was taught went into much detail. Public school history back then mostly consisted of remembering names and dates and not much else.
+Chameleon1616 your a pathetic historian! Atrocities committed on both sides? lol, the native Americans where practically being exterminated as a race for hundreds of years without a hint of humanity or shame from America, the native Americans where slaughters in the most brutal ways during this time and you try to make it sound like some kind of just as bad as each other situation. I'm suprised the native Americans did not try harder to prevent fucking annihilation at the hands of the original British settlers and the American empire that followed. And as for you sloppy crap about concentration camps you obviously have simply picked that up from what you've heard and made your own assumptions on it, the concentration camps where set up in South Africa during the Boar wars to house the family's of those who rebelled as a method of gaining leverage. By "concentrating" the population they could use this to encourage an end to the insurgency. What you are thinking of is a death camp for systematic extermination, no one was freaking killed in these camps! They where there to Imprison the population until the Rebels laid down there arms. Now, it was messy and wrong but it is not what you think it is lol. Now I will not hide the atrocity a of the British empire but considering the size of the empire and the amount of time it was around these death figures are not what they seem, it's like counting all the people who been killed in America since it was founded and then saying this is the death toll that America has brought upon its own people! Does not sound right doesn't it? Plus you would never count what good the British empire did, why do you think India is a democracy? Why do you think it has a railway system? Why do you think it's has such a large industry? Why do you think it's city's are so big? Where did those top university's come from? And of course the Indians have a flourishing population rather than an extinct one. What did America give to the Natives? And then there is all the other places like Canada, Singapore, Hong Kong and South Africa. All are decent and developed places (except for South Africa with decent, it's been torn by racial idiocy). And with the BBC, it better than anything you have got! Compare it to Fox News or CNN. The BBC is only valued because It's unbiased, during elections it time slots it's party coverage so as not to be politically unbalanced. So you can lay you ill informed hands of them lol, the fact is that your entire argument is based off reactionary defensiveness and a refusal to admit to wrong without attacking someone else first, I'll admit that a lot of stuff the empire did was SHITTY! Will you do the same for America?RE: correction
Actually this event is taught and is covered in American schools. And this is unfortunately not the only time something like this happened. One example happened in my home state of Colorado called the Sand Creek Massacre. After a series of Native raids on wagon trails coming into Colorado. On November 29, 1864, soldiers of the 1st Colorado Volunteer Cavalry Regiment road out and attacked a peaceful native village of Cheyenne and Arapaho, who had nothing to do with the raids. They killed 70-160 innocent people, two-thirds of whom were women and children.
Any time I've been taught American History, the Massacre of Wounded Knee is always brought up at least once. It may not be the case for the classes that you were taught, but it America it's pretty standard practice along with things such as the Trail of Tears and other incidents.
It’s actually not, and depends heavily on where you grew up. My guess is New England, upper Midwest, or west coast. As someone who did learn about it, I was surprised to find this completely absent from the HS curriculum of my new classmates when I went to university in a more rural part of my own state
@A Moye we hate you too
Interesting that you use the word "incidents" instead of genocide. The latter is the exact word for describing what happened.
@A Moye Don't worry, the feeling is mutual.
no it isnt
As a Native American I thank you. Luckily as an Ojibwe we, for the most part, were lucky enough to keep our lands. So we are able to stay on the lands as our forefathers, but even then as I went to high school I was appalled to find not only was our history as a whole (On our own shared lands with non-natives) was practically ignored. To further this it wasn't until around to our reservation's college where I was able to speak with others on this and was able to learn about how they sent us to boarding schools of the like (that's a whole other story together). Things such as the Sandy Lake Tragedy (which I also recommend you read into its... interesting to say the least) are completely ignored as well as the fact that even though our reservations where on our land they had stricken us from our food supply (the rivers contained wild rice) and rights to our old governing ways. Sure it's better the spot we are now but the history of what got us here is completely and utterly tossed to the wind.
Ah, an Anishinaabe, hello, or as we say, Osiyo. And yeah, I'm Tsalagi.
The boarding schools. Yep, I know about Carlisle Indian Academy from my great grandfather who was taken from his family when he was 4. A missionary couple took him and them immediately when he was old enough sent him off to Carlisle. He was treated as slave labor before he was sent to Carlisle and then you've heard the stories about that place.
Anyway, my whole family was torn apart after the Indian Removal Act of 1830. When they began rounding us up for the Trail Where They Cried, which is what we call Thai deal. So, part of my family got away and hid in the mountains and part got sent to the stockades. It was a mess.
That we, the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians have Qualla Boundary at all is pretty incredible. So, I'm not going to complain.
My Tsalagi grandfather began teaching me to stalk, track, trap, hunt, and shoot when I was 8. I bought my 1st rifle at 10 and he thought it was time for me to learn to ong distance then. Out came the 30-06. That all led to me going to sniper school and working as a sniper for 15 years.
I survived through many battles became of my Grandfather's teaching. I'll stick to that since many of my brothers feel around me.
Good luck, and wado.
My name is Dallas, I grew up in the Cree nation in Canada, my Hometown is Named after the Aboriginal tribe, Athabasca. I am a white man who grew up in aboriginal culture. I know all too well of wounded knee, and much more. The elders in my community made it clear to us as children. " This is not your cross to bare, nor will it ever be. Your only obligation is to foster relationships and friendships. That is how you repair what has happened." There is much I mill stand for with and for aboriginal culture. I urge those who do not know to seek out the past, and understand it.
COMSTOCK WASN'T AT WOUNDED KNEE
Renttenzor I scrolled through so many damn comments to see a BioShock infinite reference. Thank you.
Wow, you're so hilarious.
Comstock brought me here XD
IT WAS SLATE WHO KILLED FOR HIS COUNTRY AT WOUNDED KNEE, IT WAS SLATE WHO STORMED THE GATES OF PEKING, SLAAATE!!!
What should also be mentioned is that even men who were there thought it was not even a battle
One was quoted as saying that it was "a completely unjust slaughter"
I read that 40 million died on each side in the 400 years up to this event in history. Also, Native Americans are still forced to live on reservation and managed by the U.S. Government. Friend of mine who is Sioux and served in the US Navy brother and nephew were executed on the side of the road in Washington state in 1992/93. They are still oppressed.
Facts
Thank you for making this video and speaking about something no one is. There are so many stories that need light shed on, but will unfortunately will never be spoken of. We need more truths told about us. We were manicured and no one seems to know or care.continue the work please and don't stop with this video. We need more people who are not of native decent to speak up. Thank you.
Gotta correct one thing you mention: the lifestyle of the Plains Indians had not existed for thousands of years. For example, only in the 1700s did the Lakota Sioux move onto the Great Plains permanently. Prior to that the Natives who would become the Plains Indians were mostly seasonal farmers who occasionally ventured onto the Plains to hunt. The habit of following the bison around as nomads only became possible when the Natives had horses, which were only present in the Americas since the 1500s.
Obviously this does not excuse what happened to them in any way, shape or form. It's just a factual correction.
The plains lifestyle is thousands of years old. The lifestyle with the horse is only a couple hundred years old.
Did the Horses get introuduced through the Spanish conquests on Central and south America?
People seem to not realize that natives also live in the forest. They lived in Longhouses
Not exactly, the Native Americans were still able to hunt buffalo before the Spanish introduced horses, It was just a lot harder for them, and they used different tactics. One such tactic is they would disguise themselves as a predator and run them off a cliff.
Pretty sure he actually gets into that in the dances w wolves review
1:39 Hey cool! I got a shout out :D
This is just a thank you note from a Maori history enthusiast who was inspired by your channel. You're a great communicator and a great teacher
I'm a Northern Cheyenne (Sand Creek Massacre), and an Oglala Sioux (See above). I'm just very glad you decided to make a separate video on this, as linking it to a movie isn't really necessary in my opinion, and allowed you to really flex on your last point (Which is a pretty good one, mind you.)
Thank you :)
I recall getting attacked in class once for asking why it was called a battle when it was clearly far from it. Wonderful video, good sir.
Watch the movie: Soldier Blue. Our government banned this movie for years but you can still find it.
No this was taught in my school at least, it was referred to as a massacre and not much was sugar coated. Nebraska, at
least puts a lot of native history in the books.
Fellow Nebraskan here and I agree. I don't remember too many punches being pulled about American history when I was growing up (was in school from 2000-2013). Both slavery and native history covered pretty extensively.
when i went to High School in California back in early 1980's and we were taught this! This is one of the biggest reasons why i am against gun control! these people were disarmed and look what happened!
I discovered your channel yesterday and have already binged on quite a lot of it.
My fondness for history was fostered very early on by a couple teachers who themselves were disillusioned with the romanticized version of history they were taught.
With that in mind, I have a few things to say.
In schools in the U.S., regulation isn't micromanagement. What I mean is, teachers have to hit milestones in what they teach, but day to day, they have a lot of room to maneuver.
As for US history, the main points are American Revolution > Formation of the government > War of 1812 (sometimes) > Mexican - American War (Rarely) > Civil War > Reconstruction > Indian Wars (usually covered in just a page or so) > Spanish American War / Imperialism > World War 1 > Conditions following > Roaring twenties > Great Depression > World War 2 > Korean War > Civil Rights Movement > Vietnam War > Persian Gulf War. In my last few years of high school I noticed later chapters adding sections about terrorism and the war in Iraq and the one in Afghanistan.
Teachers will often go in depth or add a week or two of content on subjects they feel are underrepresented, and that's why the level of education for history is very inconsistent.
The people below are in a minority, though they make it sound otherwise. Like many of them, I moved from State to State and took US History roughly eight times.
A lot of Americans will find this ironic, but one of the States I saw better history education from was Texas - which is funny because most Americans (particularly in northern States) view Texas in a not so positive light when it comes to this sort of thing, for a few reasons.
New Mexico had the best history education I experienced. Because many people there have mixed heritages, the history book there for State history was remarkably impartial. It explained what happened and why and how; it didn't justify or paint anything in a positive light. It excluded the more atrocious and gruesome crimes and actions of the past, but I imagine this was done because it was meant to be taught to young children. Even then the teacher picked up the book's slack and thoroughly explained a lot of things.
A lot of Americans don't know about a lot of American wars. It's certainly a lot more than what I listed up there.
Between the Philippine American war and the first and second war with Tripoli and the Indian Wars, it's not harped on a lot in modern American society.
But I disagree with the implication that this is a product of the schools. American schools have a LOT of problems. I've seen ceiling tiles fall onto student heads and still nothing was done about it.But when it comes to the curriculum I've seen many teachers try their hearts out to teach their students that these things happened and how real it was.
Personally I attribute it to a lack of empathy a lot of people have for the past. No one imagines the feeling of a 17 year old private as he hears the command to march against a wall of gunfire, or the hopelessness of the many last stands throughout history. They miss the human side of it all. That's not their fault - it's just a hard thing to do from a textbook.
As an American soldier, who has to pore over old battle strategies and on the role of a soldier in essays and boards, I also disagree with the implication that the soldiers who attacked the natives at Wounded Knee were all racist folks who wanted nothing more than to drive the natives into submission. From that statement, it wouldn't be a stretch to make a similar statement about the modern conflict in the middle East, and honestly I hear that all the time.
I'm positive that some of the men were racist, if not only superficially. Even that is something of a defense mechanism that soldiers have. I hear it today. A lot of the more ignorant men here make racist comments that I as another soldier, am entirely uncomfortable with. In fact, the majority are. Even older enlisted men and senior officers will go out of their way to correct a soldier who crosses the line in these comments and jokes.
We (the US military) borrow a lot of our culture and structure from our predecessors in the late 19th century. I find it hard to believe that the men at wounded knee were all uniform in their beliefs or even backgrounds. That's just something I feel compelled to add.
Still, I love your content and look forward to future uploads. You've even introduced me to new films that I'm sad I missed.
Also pleaaaaaaase review the Alamo. There's a couple of moments in there are creative liberties but I really want to see your take on it.
Thanks for your channel!
Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee was required reading in my High School
Not mine
Me neither
Mine didn't even teach Native history.
This isn't just an isolated historical event. It is one experience on a continuum of oppression that continues to this day. Find History Buffs' examination of _Dances with Wolves_ which, in addition to reviewing the film, also includes an extended look at the current clash between the oil industry and peaceful protesters over the Dakota Access Pipeline. You will learn that nothing has changed. If we look back at Wounded Knee and try to justify it by "out-dated attitudes of the time", then how do we explain the same attitudes being displayed to this very day?
I'm Native American and I'm glad you talked about this. Too many people in my area justify this. :/
Are you kidding?
K
i assume you responded to someone who erased their comments?
zach trausan Some guy who thought all Native Americans were dead.
I couldn't tell if he was seriously or not
Another forgotten massacre is the one that happened at Sand Creek, Colorado. That massacre is even worse than Wounded Knee.
We had a history teacher who intentionally taught this. Trail of Tears, Spanish American War, Banana Wars, Boxer Rebellion etc.
You had a teacher who probably lied to you. The Spanish American War, particularly the Philippines insurgency and the US victory is one of the worst covered piece of history
i tried reading the book got to the second chapter and had to hand it over to some-one else to read because my hatred for the human race exploded.i couldn't read any more than that. a question i ask people who talk about the native americans is 'how many tribes can you name...they 'maybe' get to tghree before going eeeerrr. when yiou tell them there were more than 300 really shocks them.
"Bury my Heart at Wounded Knee" is one of the best and most eye-opening books I've ever experienced, and I frankly feel it should be mandatory reading in schools. Patriotism is fine and good, but blind patriotism with no proper context does no one a service.
Blind Patriotism is nationalism
What about the people that blindly despise the country…
it just sickens me that the sufferings of native americans goes unheard and unseen...... this needs to be brought to light and bring justice to these poor people who were only defending their freedom and way of life.
So were the Americans
The quality of your videos is amazing in under a year you have nearly 70k subs, i really enjoy your content. I mean seriously i've been watching you vids for like 4 hrs straight and i'm still going. Keep up the good work
in the aftermath of the tragic shooting in Orlando, i think the native indians would have sumthing to say about the mainstream media claiming it to be the worst shooting in American history but anyway, i knew a bit about wounded knee but u have done a really good job getting the facts right and putting it in prospective, looking into more about it myself, i came across the 2nd battle of wounded knee in 1973, which is another fascinating story in its own right, the native indians took over the town of wounded knee and had a big stand off with the FBI.
Hello Mr. Hodges. Enjoyed your video and finally found your channel. I'm a Navajo out from Arizona and I gotta say, your insight about this specific event was quite detailed and had some interesting thoughts and opinions, especially coming from someone who is not of this country. Not many non-Natives/Indigenous people in the U.S. don't like to talk about this subject and other events for some reason, other than guilt. But you are able to look at things objectively and even acknowledge your own countries' atrocities, which is admirable. You've probably done research on other events but this certainly reminds me of the Long Walk for my Navajo people or even the Trail of Tears for the Cherokees as far as massacres and atrocities. Many tribes are doing all they can to uphold their language, teachings, and ceremonies with what little they have. Then there are those unfortunate tribes who have completely loss their identity, including their culture, traditions and elders. Thank you for being one of the few that are understanding of our plight. Been listening to you since the Spill/Loading Bar days and finally got the update of your whereabouts from Rageselect with Jeff. But I'm a fan yours and glad you got your own channel up and running, especially about history. Keep it up man.
Hi Johnathan! I just want to say sorry for not replying to your comment sooner but I just want to say thank you so much for your comment. It really moved me and it's so cool to hear that you have been supporting me on The Loading Bar, Rage Select and even coming over to my little channel :). I have always been fascinated by Native American culture and history and to be commended by a Navajo seriously made my day! It's a crying shame that young people are losing touch with their tribal identity, especially one as rich as yours. I've seen social programs though with Native Americans working together with Maori from New Zealand and it gives me a little hope since the Maori have taken great steps to hold onto their culture and still speak their language.
Definitely, it is really great to see and hear how the Maori were successful in retaining much of their culture and language and even working with us Native American/Indigenous tribes here in the U.S. in preserving what we can. But it's all good. I didn't actually think you would respond since you would be busy creating more content, but cool and thank you in that way. I've never actually had contact from someone in a well-known entertainment show such as Spill or Rageselect. Keep going and I am really enjoying the various historical movies that you are tackling. There are many facts that I didn't even know about, such as The Last Samurai. But if you ever do a video regarding films about Native Americans or Indigenous tribes around the world, such as Apocalypto or even the Disney version of Pocahontas, I will definitely support your content in some way. Our portrayal in large, Hollywood style films still has many inaccurate details that mimic old films with caricature and stereotypical native characters. The closest major Hollywood films in being accurate are Dances With Wolves and Last of the Mohicans. But this little video you made says a lot about the disrespect tribes are still getting today from non-Natives, especially the part when you were talking about the amount of distributed Medals of Honor to soldiers back then compared to now.
Don't even worry about it mate. I can assure you that I do not see myself that way lol. I'm not as responsive as I would like to be because I'm always working on the next video. Every time I'm close to burning out, comments like yours see me through :) And strangely enough, I am doing a video about Native Americans.My next film review will 1492 Conquest of Paradise which is about Christopher Columbus's voyage into the New World and the terrible atrocities he committed. It's coming out after my review for 300, which will be released in the next day or so. I do want to say though that Dances with Wolves was the film that made me become fascinated with Native American culture in the first place. I have always wanted to see the real America as portrayed in that movie. Go to the reservation and see the gorgeous landscape. Meet Native Americans and eat their food. Been a dream of mine always and one day I will. By the way, if you want to see a movie about the Maori, watch Once Were Warriors. Brutal film but awesome!
The content you are creating is absolutely wonderful and informative. It's great to see someone who can describe what they're talking about, especially about historical events, in a format that comes from how they feel about the subject. Instead of being limited to what they can talk about or be considerate of profanity. But hey, glad to be of help as a fan. This next review sounds exciting considering a few weeks ago was technically Columbus Day, which is somehow still a thing. The days prior to Columbus Day had many Indigenous Tribes push to have their local governments or school change the day to Indigenous Peoples' Day; some succeeded. Many misconceptions are still present when talking about his voyage and "discovery." But with all the negativity, we still have some things and some land that we call home and some of us are still located in our original homelands. But those locations are beautiful and the food is awesome so when you definitely get the chance, check it out brah. Heck you can start out here on the Navajo Nation with many locations used in westerns. One big food item many tribes like is frybread. It has many different iterations and may not be healthy, but it's good. But wow, that's an awesome movie recommendation that I never even heard of and even has Temuera Morrison in it and it is brutal, damn. Since it's about the Maori, it reminds me of the movie Whale Rider also. But dude, I can make all kinds of recommendations when talking about films about Natives in the U.S. I don't know if you heard of Smoke Signals but that is a famous one among many tribes.
Wounded Knee was horrific. So was SandCreek, Nat Turner's Rebellion, and dozens of others massacres in 19th century American history. Wounded Knee was not unique, not a one-off. It was the final bloodletting in a long string of massacres stretching back almost 400 years. Massacres that involved the Spanish, Portuguese, English, and finally, Americans.
The "battle" of wounded knee was one of the darkest moment in north america's history. Moments like this in history define a people for generations. But all mistakes, no matter how dark, can be corrected by future generations. Ps, if anyone says that Nick is a weak person for being sad, i would like to share with you this quote by Maya angelou. I've learned the people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.
Or you could read the book from which the HBO documentary is taken, Dee Brown's "Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee". Much of his research material was documents preserved by various American government authorities, and he notes in passing that they were proud of what they had done and specifically took care to keep the records.
It is not a comfortable book to read, and was even less so in the '70's when it first came out.
Trust me I am American, our "history" classes are a joke. We know jack shit unless we chose to learn it on our own time and most don't. In grade 7 I knew more than my history teacher. It pissed her off so much that I was banished from class and made to sit at a desk in the hall all that year. Even though I was excluded I still aced the class without learning anything. I'm not saying this to try to sound smart, (I'm no brighter than the next guy) but to explain the reality here.
+shanes channel
It really depends on the teacher in my opinion but I know what you mean
Yeah my history "class" last year was complete shit all my "teacher" did was make us do book work and not even teach us. And she made sure to drive home the "fact" that America is the most evil country ever. Heck I got sent out just for calling her out on her bs. But at least I Aced that class.
You are lucky she was not spiteful. Lots of college students are claiming they are being failed for not towing the America is evil line. I'd love to drop these spoiled liberal assholes in one of the many countries people are literally dying attempting to escape from and then how much they hate America. Lets see how say... Nancy Pelosi fares in Iran.
+shanes channel me too.
+shanes channel Shanes, my 12 year old is like you. He knows so much more about history that the teacher has asked him not to comment about what they read. I went one better and met with school authorities about that issue. My son is respectful and just points out that the books are often misleading and many times inaccurate. Since it's a private school I have had success somewhat and my son has got a bunch of the kids more interested in History!!
I was "taught" about this in school, but way different from the truth. They taught that the Natives ambushed the unexpecting American army. When I heard the truth a few years ago, I was obviously horrified.
Most people who have paid attention in school have heard of Wounded Knee and many people knew of the book "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee" back in the 70s. It reached cultural saturation. Most people know it was a slaughter, but perhaps aren't familiar with the background, so your details were very instructive.
You're also looking at this in hindsight from a modern and removed point of view that has access to more information. I am not justifying the calvary's actions but how long had that military cadre been out there? How many battles had they seen? We're any of them suffering from what we now know as PTSD? They could've been on edge and all it took was a single misfire from a gun and all hell broke loose with a lot of confusion, evident from the fact mention that the calvarymen who died were as a result of friendly fire. I think it was something that just spiraled out of control and ended in tragedy.
The movie "Hidalgo" tries to portray a stand in of Wounded Knee. I'd be interested to see a review of that film. In it we are supposed to buy that blond Danish actor Viggo Mortensen is part Native American but... Whatever. It has Omar Sharief in one of his last film roles.
AnIdiotsLantern So does Last Samurai
I still want Nick to review It too.
Viggo excelled in that movie. Such a good actor
As of the posting of this comment, the US Army is establishing a board to review the medals.
I'm not sure any person alive now should feel guilty about what their ancestors did. They weren't there, it wasn't them. A modern day American had as much to do with this atrocity as I did with atrocities in India. However and it's a big however, we have to acknowledge that this stuff happened so that it doesn't happen again. Teaching our children the truth about history is important. Too often governments sanction a propaganda style of history that makes a country look righteous.
+David Fisher That's the way of thinking that makes people repeat these horrific actions again and again. If you feel responsible for this, you will never do this. If you want to forget it, you'll forget the horror of it, and it will be easier to excuse people doing it again.
+Midorikonokami that doesnt make any sense. you dont need to feel responsible for something to resent it.
+Midorikonokami I find this disgusting, but I have no reason to feel responsible. No one now does.
Midorikonokami he can't forget the horror of this if he hasn't ever even experienced it, and I think it's safe to say people tend not to commit atrocities like this not because they have felt responsible for past atrocities but because they can fell sympathy for their fellow human and fell regret for what they have done, not what their ancestors have
well but those actions did some damage , thats why this resentment exists
A few important points:
1) The Plains Indians' nomadic way of life did not appear until horses arrived on the Continent. Before they arrived, the plains Indians were more settled and agrarian.
2) The Plains Indians saw control of land as temporary. The strongest tribes would take the best lands and game by force, and it was almost like a sport. The notion of owning land was utterly foreign to the Americans.
3) The Ghost Dance was the product of a solar eclipse, which an Indian named Wovoka claimed was taught to him by great spirits who promised to turn back the clock. It was embraced by many Indians, partly because of its promises, but also because of his seemingly supernatural personality and charisma. The government was confused at first at how to react to it because it was so bizarre and over-the-top.
4) There are two other big names in the story: Chief Sitting Bull, who was arrested by Indians, and shot by a rival, stoking tensions when people began suggesting the Federal Government had used the Indians as a tool of assassination. Chief Hump, who had not left the reservation yet, was approached by an old friend in the army, and willingly stood down his warriors.
5) The leader of the band at Wounded Knee was Chief Big Foot. He fled into the Badlands, which were barren lands with no real resources, with 106 warriors. He bumped into the 7th Cavalry by mistake, and he asked for a parley, not the Cavalry.
6) Big Foot was suffering from pneumonia when the Cavalry discovered them, and his band was close to starving and freezing in the wilderness without food. The cavalry pointed out the hopelessness of his position, and he agreed to surrender. Both sides were short on supplies, but they traveled to Wounded Knee to help him recover enough of his health for the journey home. The Cavalry had their regimental surgeon attend to him.
7) Wounded Knee is a creek, and the site of the battle only had a post office at that time. With both sides low on supplies, and the weather turning colder, they needed to leave as soon as possible. Time was not on their side, and the Cavalry was in a hurry.
8) Since Big Foot had formally surrendered, the Cavalry expected the Indians to surrender their arms. The Indians only produced 20 non-functioning rifles. For a party of 106 warriors. The Cavalry searched the tents, but only found 40 altogether.
9) A medicine man named Yellow Bird was in the camp, and while the tents were being searched, he encouraged the warriors to fight, because they had their ghost dance shirts on, which they believed would stop bullets. The warriors were squatting on blankets, and when a cavalryman looked underneath one, the warrior (named Black Fox) whipped out his rifle and fired into the group. The other warriors grabbed their weapons, also concealed under their blankets, and attacked the cavalry. The cavalry fired back with their cannons and rifles, and the Sioux attacked with their tomahawks.
10) The Cavalry did massacre the Indians, just in retaliation for their treachery. Their haste to leave had left tensions high, and the hiding of weapons under blankets was the final straw.
11) Wounded Knee was the first true test of the Ghost Dance, and its failure spelled the end of the Indian Wars.
So there actually was a battle, and the Indians did start it with a pre-planned ambush, and the massacre was not in cold blood. 'Bury my Heart at Wounded Knee' does not hold the Indians accountable for their treachery in surrender. It's nice-sounding, but it's more like 'Kingdom of Heaven' in its attempts to demonize one side.
We had a Native American History elective in my town's high school in east central Wisconsin back in 1975. Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee was part of the required reading. I never regretted taking that class.
This was a great review, Nick. You honor Native people by telling a factual narrative about a terrible injustice. Your channel is excellent. Keep up the good work man.
why did I laugh when he said medals were handed out like fucking skittles
Awesome channel nick, I'm a history buff myself, I'm also Native. Sisseton Sioux wappheton tribe south Dakota, Thanks for talking about the battle of wounded knee, rarely talked about. It's believed that some of my relatives were killed there also. Hard to know because most natives lost there real names and given "white mans" names and it's hard to find our true elders from those times. So basically rely on parents and grandparents for our original native last name. It's a tough but beautiful history sometimes. We even still hold old traditional prayers and dance. Anyways thanks alot for making this video. From an old spillio/loadingbar fan Thanks and keep em coming.
guitarbeast651 Thanks mate! Really sorry that your family went through so much hardship. I hope things improve for you and for all the other Sioux on these reservations. Keep holding onto your traditions and dance. I am worried that they might disappear entirely, which would be absolutely heart-breaking if they did. From the little I have seen in movies when I was a kid, really captured my imagination.
I will not judge a people for what wrong their ancestors have done. I *will* judge a people for celebrating what wrong their ancestors have done. Happy Thanksgiving.
+Zap “Gee” Gun good 'ol Columbus day
+patrick O'flannigan Lol, that guy did atleast 100x more attrocities than this captain.
Zap Gun yes, let's whitewash history even further by ignoring our own history because "muh 'trocities". Boo hoo, bad people did great things for the world, get over it. Remember Charlemagne? Remember how he slaughtered pagans like it was his hobby? Oh yea, he also formed modern day France and the Holy Roman Empire and paved way for the reconquista hundreds of years later. But who cares about that part of history, right?
Pladimir Vutin please excuse me for not quite grasping your meaning here. This comment is phrased as though it is an agitated retort, strongly disagreeing with my statement. Its contents, however, seem to fall directly in line with what I said. Pray tell, which is it?
Pladimir Vutin Yeah great he founded a country famous for running away. What an achievement...
You are right but Bill O'Reilly would do his campaign about "Obama hating american veterans and patriots" or something and argue that those native americans are to blame for the massacre. Guys like him are taking what they can get to higher tensions.
We covered Little Big Horn, Wounded Knee, Trail of Tears, Tecumseh and The Prophet (Tenskwatawa), etc., etc. in US history and Ohio history back in the early '90s in middle school.
Here in America, especially since the middle to late '90s Wounded Knee is pretty standard fair in high school history classrooms. Unfortunately it's usually paired with Custer's last stand as a way to demonstrate that both sides committed atrocities, even though there is 100 Wounded Knees for every Custer.
AS A canadian Native learning history in school in Canada was even worse basically "when you think of a native what do you first think of?" a question my history teacher actually asked the class and basically i have never felt so humiliated and it got quite racist . The teacher said oh your native why didn't you say anything. I strongly suggest to watch the HBO series bury my heart at wounded knee its a great movie great book
And a very sad one. I'm a christian and I should not get mad at people, but I just can't understand how people can be so cruel when it comes to other races. Just.... WHY?
I give my Jr year American history teacher credit for not shying away from atrocities of what was done back then
I recently subscribed to your channel and found this while going through your videos. While I don't often comment via youtube, I want to sincerely thank you for bringing this to light. As a Native American, so many emotions are brought to the front when these topics are still completely whitewashed in our day and age. Thank you for this video and for helping others see what this event truly was and is - a massacre. Qe'ci'yew'yew. (Thank you)
Thank you so much for your comment. I have been in love with Native American culture and history since I was a kid so it really means a lot mate :)
History Buffs
Glad to hear. I'm not sure if you're familiar with reddit.com, but if you're interested, feel free to check out a community forum that I help moderate that is about Native Americans and our culture(s). We host a variety of content concerning activism, history, education, language, news, and much more.
Link: www.reddit.com/r/IndianCountry (Not to be confused with Indians from India, as we often get, haha.)
+History Buffs
My history lecturer is in love with Native American culture and history too. I mean she lied about her age so she could watch Soldier Blue.
A truly horrible act. An entire race of people who had lived there for thousands of years wiped out.
Most excellent podcast Nick! I've been watching many of your History Buffs videos and they are fantastic. I wonder, have you happened to have read the book, Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee? I read it in high school (years ago in Canada) and read it again about 8 years ago. I thought it a great rendering of the tremendous tragedy of those times. Cheers!
Something you didn't touch on in this video that to me is important is the role of Wovoca (please correct my spelling if it is wrong) and the ghost shirts. Wovoca told the People that the ghost shirts would protect them from the blue shirts guns and that understandable made the soldiers nervous. He was also preaching that the God of the White Men had given him a vision of a return to the past. The television show Into the West is told from both the White side as well as the Native American side and it does a great job in explaining the point of view of both sides.
I remember learning about Wounded Knee, The Bakers Massacre, The Trail of tears, and the 1980's incident at Wounded Knee in school. Just wanted to bring that up 0_0
@Samael nah bro the Natives were just following the grateful dead around and the DEA got them
Thank you for elucidating this terrible wrong. As an American I am chagrined that this government would not repudiate such a staggering crime. How can the US government condemn crimes like the Katyn forest massacre as long as the perpetrators of this atrocity are honored?
I read the book "bury my heart at wounded knee" many years ago. Still stays with me. It all comes down to ' Mans inhumanity to man' … every race and Country has been guilty of this at some time. We should learn from it and move on ….hopefully to become better people..
Sorry to revive an old thread but this was taught in school in America. I've actually taught my students about it.
I learned this event from bioshock infinite
Same i thought it was made up
If you had attended a real school, you would have learned it there among other things that would have been useful to you.
@@azynkron have you heard of the American education system? They'll gloss over hundreds of years with just a foot note
@@azynkron Went to a private college prep school. Never heard anything of the battle of wounded knee; only parts of King Philips war and straight into the west gold mining industry in order to meet test deadlines.
I heard about this in an my military history class in high school. Our teacher did not shy away from the shameful moments in history. I've never heard of it referred to as a battle.
I've actually seen a medal from one of these men in a museum before.
Thank you for this!
My grandma had to flee to Canada to escape the government killings. I'm Sioux & Ojibway, I haven't even been to the Dakota lands. I really want to go and find some of my family.
Thank you.
The Battle of Wounded Knee is taught in every American history class....
Mrs. Hodges, I know you put a lot of time and effort in to putting content together to educate us on historical facts but this kind of “podcast” style of video is still very important to me and I don’t mind the lack of animations, you are so well known for doing that but, I don’t mind just getting the facts. Please keep up the amazing work you do, your work has inspired me to dig deeper into the subject and I want to know more about any subject you discuss. Thank you Nick.
This is something that is OFTEN taught in schools, and so is quite a bit of the history of the American Indian and their interaction with the European settlers/American nationals, with subjects such as this as well as others like the trail of tears getting quite a bit of focus. By starting off on such a broad stroke and just assuming that the atrocities of a peoples forefathers aren't taught as lessons in actions never to be repeated, while you profess that it isn't your intention, this certainly comes off as European finger wagging in what has seemed to become a popular trend. Yet again, while you may not intend it, by starting something off by telling many of your listeners what you assume they don't know about their own history, it is condescending. It isn't the intention but the action that does the damage, after all. Trying to be polite yet direct on TH-cam. Not sure if that still works.
It is often taught. Every atrocity committed by whites against other ethnic groups is almost eagerly taught and piled on students, it's like a misplaced method of atonement. It should be covered but sometimes I feel that's it's all we hear about now, and I feel like that's what's pushing g us more toward socialism.
+Doc Awful We dont learn about this specific event at all in our high schools, not even in the AP classes. Most related material is glossed over at best.
Michael B "Our high schools". You are clearly wrong. You mean YOUR highschool. Mine wasn't garbage, and my teacher wasn't either. Your anecdotal evidence doesn't apply to all.
I would say it's just virtue signalling
Hey I'm a guy who reviews historical movies but let me just cry about a race I've never met nor spoke to
lol i went to american high school, got A's in history and social studies. This never once came up.
I agree 100% with what you are saying! I visited wounded knee in 2008 and talked to the locals and it's just unbelievable that no action has been taken so far. I applaud that you bring this to our attention!
I also recommend the movie Thunderhart, though fiction it gives you an idea of peoples heart and mindset.
I downloaded the book, “Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee,” from Amazon Kindle store. I believe it’s still free for Prime members for anyone interested in Wounded Knee.
My Middle School teacher in 7th and 8th grade name is Mr. Tanaka, and when he taught American history he did not shy away from terrible things that whites did to the natives. He play this TNT miniseries called Into The West and it was great. It did not shy from how terrible the white treated the natives, and they treated races. "The plot follows the story of two families, one white American, one Native American, as their lives become mingled through the momentous events of American expansion. The story intertwines real and fictional characters and events spanning the period of expansion of the United States in the American West, from 1825 to 1890," (wiki). This is series has stock with me for long, and I will never forget the horrific scenes it showed, and its brutal honesty. This show, and along with my teacher Tanaka teachings opened my eyes, at a young age, the truth of how America was made. This show is only 6 episodes long but it covers a lot in all of them from America's achievements, its brutal truths behind those achievements, and its "treatment" of the Native Americans all the way to the Ghost Dance massacre. I highly recommend this series you Nick, please check it and let me know what you think of it. You can find all 6 episodes on TH-cam, their quality is 360p and you can probably find better quality else where, but still please watch it. Thank you for your time.
Great video. My school taught it.
The Medal of Honor- from the civil war to WW I was the only medal available to be awarded. WW I the instituted the Distinguished Service Cross. So before that it was either the MOH or nothing. When they rescinded the 700+ MOH most (if not all) were awarded for non valor actions ( 200+ were awarded to a unit who re-enlisted during the civil war). What Sen McCain meant was since these were awarded for acts of valor (?) not acts of service the policy is not to question if they deserved the award based on today's criteria.
I never had a single US History teacher who skipped over this. I remember questioning all of them at one point over why they went over such a horrible point in US History, and they all gave pretty much the same response that has stuck to me into my adult years. They said: “the purpose of true history is not to glorify, exaggerate, deviate from the truth, or lie in any way. That is the job of politicians. History is meant to report events exactly as they happened without bias, omission, or the altering of details. For a historian to do so is to betray their duty to their loved ones, future generations, and humanity as a whole.” They teach us this so we never let it happen again.
You should do a history buff of "bury my heart at wounded knee"
Your videos are always awesome...Keep making them, I can't stop binging!
Your not a history Channel. You are More Emotional than Facts.
Atleast in my Highschool it was mentioned briefly while we were learning about that time period. From what I remember it was generic outline and did label it as Battle of Wounded Knee and not a massacre, as in, the Native Americans provoked the fight and Americans totally defended themselves. We need to all realize that Native Americans were here first and give them respect.
If medals were handed out so abundantly as you suggest at 9:40, then doesn't that make the request to pull them less meaningful? Apparently they weren't meaningful to begin with and only achieved this kind of meaning and status much later.
Wouldn't it them be much more reasonable of the government to just take the medals back then.
I wrote one critique of your video on "Zulu" but I think this video was done very well and serves history justice.
I just want to add that the good old days of native Americans, when they were free, rode around, and hunted buffaloes, did never exist. The natives were already farmers when the Europeans arrived. They brought horses to America and the natives took advantage of them. It was a military advantage. The tribes with horses were able to conquer and pillage the other tribes. It was not a peaceful society, just like the antique European tribalism wasn't peaceful. Not before and not after the Europeans came to America. And what caused the buffaloes to cease was not the work of some evil white people. The natives used horses and firearms to hunt the buffaloes in greater number than it was ever possible before.
This is not an excuse for massacres against the natives, of course. But it's also a common misconception to see them as some kind of perfectly balanced peaceful utopian society. But, and that's the most important part, such war crimes against civilians are NEVER okay, regardless of the context.
+Nickname hier einfügen Shhhh, you're ruining the romanticism!
+Nickname hier einfügen Actually the Americans did hunt down large numbers of Buffalo. It became entertainment while riding on trains to sit in a special car and just pick off Buffalo as they passed (Buffalo also do not flee like deer when shot, but form a defensive line around their shot fellow buffalo). Between the Americans and the Native Americans hunting, that is what almost drove the Buffalo extinct.
*****
I partially agree, although I'm sure that many native tribes wiped out other tribes long before the Europeans came. Which could be seen as genocide, too. Also keep in mind that ~ 90% of the Native Americans died of the diseases which came with the European settlers and African slaves to America. So it wasn't an intentional genocide at least.
But again: I don't want to downplay the actual war crimes. The massacres (Wounded Knee, Trail of Tears, etc.) were horrible crimes and should be seen as such.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbian_Exchange#Disease
+Nickname hier einfügen Native American warfare was pretty chilling in its brutality. Attacks on what we would call "civilians" were the norm. Raids were conducted to enslave fertile women and abduct healthy children. People were living in harsh and marginal environments, and infant mortality was high, so healthy children were highly sought after to be indoctrinated into their abductor's tribe. This is mostly the plains cultures. The settled eastern farmers fought over fertile land just like Europeans did.
Not to mention the great Mesoamerican cultures. The Aztecs warred for captives for human sacrifice. I've been to Chichen Itza and seen the stone carvings depicting those ceremonies, they are highly stylized yet still horrific. Not trying downplay the genocidal massacres like Wounded Knee. Just saying that the noble savage idea of Native Americans found in literature and even modern media is pure fiction. They were people just like anywhere else.
+Nickname hier einfügen It might have something to do with how Buffalo were viewed as parasite-filled mutated cows that were best used as target practice from the trains? I've seen pictures of fields of dead buffalo, for no reason. Then there are the pictures where the buffalo had just their hides taken off, and the meat left behind to rot. I'm not going to defend their lifestyle; but it's obvious to me that you have no respect for it, either.
I'm glad that you did a video on this. A lot of the textbooks I read as a kid would say battle and that always pissed me off. You might be interested in the 1973 Takeover of Wounded Knee Creek by the America Indian Movement.
Although I sympathize with my history teacher in high school, given his circumstances involving insane teenagers, you have taught me more in three days than what I learnt in school over several years.
First time I heard about Wounded Knee was when I was in Sophomore year of high school. Crazy thing was I didn’t learn about it in school. I learned about it when playing a video game called Bioshock: Infinite.
Those medals have been rescinded as far I know
Sean Coultard Just took them over a hundred and twenty years...
Great read on the subject is Dee Brown's, 'Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee' (the documentary mentioned at the end is based on it).
It's actually a terrible book historically. His rather moronic critique of Lincoln's decision to execute 37 Lakota who committed murder on a scale three times as worse as a Wounded Knee destroys his credibility. The man defends murderers of unarmed men, women, and children. Dee Brown is hypocritical cad.
I enjoyed it, but other than reading it know nothing other, what book would you recommend?
I disagree. Brown befriended many native Americans and knew what he was writing about. Just because you don't share his oppinion doesn't mean he's a moron. Rather the opposite.
As an native American indian, as the United States government has now told us we are to be designated as, thank you for making this video. It is taught in American middle and high schools. However the version that is taught and officially okayed differs pretty drastically from the version that historians and actual reservations tell. I realize it's been 6 years since you posted this but thank you
Read Dee Brown's book in my younger years. I basically cried all the way through to the last pages. His non sentimental style, just stating facts, makes it even more hard to read. Indeed, those days, when the West was won, is a shameful chapter of the Western world. And what is done to native Americans today is by no means better. They are not killed as such, but deprived of a decent life.
Sadly, this has usually been the story of civilization - conquest and assimilation. It's been going on since the beginning of civilization but it hits home more solidly when it happened only a few generations ago and involved our own ancestors.
What we do today is no better? I know lots still live on reservations and im not even remotely trying to justify that but we dont purposefully give them smallpox, we dont raid their settlements, we dont slaughter encampments and bury them in mass graves. Theres definitely been strides forward.
This is why all those memorials to these soldiers and leaders like Custer should be taken down.
7th Cavalry was Custer's old regiment afterall and he was a buctherer almost without peer perhaps Sherman could come close.
I mean they're taking down monuments on cemetaries in the South just because those soldiers fought for their homes the 7th cavalry did not fight for their homes at all!
Almost everyone in the US knows about the Wounded Knee Massacre. And it is taught in high schools. I learned about it in middle school
Andrew Olson yes in most history and economics classes
So they teach students about the gulags, mass killings and starvations?
Is Howard Zinn's history of America taught in US schools?
Andrew Olson they teach about the Great Purge later high school years, but the Russian Revolution and the rise and fall of the Soviet Union during the Cold War are usually talked about in middle school
Andrew Olson the version of history that is taught is really a mashup of Zinn’s version and other versions that have a more positive view on American history
Andrew Olson I don’t know. Probably because capitalism isn’t working for us
I'm currently studying American history in college, and the Massacre at Wounded Knee is just an awful event I can picture when I think about the Natives.
As an American, I will remember this no matter how many people deride me for "Apologizing for America"
Thank you for making this channel, I'm really enjoying it!
As a Historian, you should know that it's not a good idea to scrub records. To remove that medal of honor is to cover up stains in our history, a stain we should always remember and learn from.
I don't agree. To remove the medal of honor is a clear and unmistakable sign that not only does the US condemn the massacre with words but also with actions. The only way to cover this up is by not teaching what happened to children in school not rescinding medals.
@@Senshinobi no stupid we are not just going to start removing medals from people from long ago in the past because of a current narrative now…it will be the same thing happening to veterans you know now in the future once the standards start to change again…it’s a meaningless gesture that will causes nothing but division…use your brain
this is taught but it takes up about 2-3 sentences in the 2.5 inch history textbook.
'Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee' sung by Buffy Sainte-Marie.
my ancestor private Charles William O'Hara was there after the massacure he became a massive drunk and depressed because of some of the things they did none of the family we even talked about it because how embarrassed they were of it
American schools teach about this massacre with the possible exception of Texas.
Not in Wisconsin
I was taught about this in 7th grade and im from Texas. Conservative teacher too.
not in PA!
When I was in school I learned about Wounded Knee. That time period in American history fascinates me, and as does the aftermath of Wounded Knee. And I believe that there are lessons to be learned from Wounded Knee, both before and after. But as you had mentioned too many are uncomfortable and I think just want to sweep it under the rug.
History is written by the victor NEVER FORGET THAT!
Not gonna lie as a native it sucks being in America. So much abuse and people telling me to go back to my country.... some imaginary place somewhere, not the place my family goes back 30 thousand years at..
Poor guy.
He's discovering actual unromanticized history. Keep digging deeper, it's not a pretty sight, but a real one.
“There is no document of civilization that is not also a document of barbarism.”
- Walter Benjamin
Yes other countries did evil but none to the degre of the usa
@@sockshistorychanel7715 I do agree, but It's mostly my opinion. I haven't studied the history of the world enough to be able to make that remark as being factual, and it's got big contenders to that position.
I think it might be a case of hyperfocus on the US because it's the most relevant to us now, being the current holder of the world political and economical hegemony.
thanks for the vid! I really appreciate that you're not rewriting history, well done!
this material is taught in US schools and has been since before my older brother was a high school freshman so... almost 20 years at least
truly a tragic event in American history. I was taught about this from my parents who went to great lengths to educate my siblings and I about the whole sweep of American history. I love my country in spite of crimes like this. fighting for real change in my homeland starts by acknowledging the mistakes of the past, then working to ensure it never happens again.
3:14 Rode across the prairies? On what? Certainly not on horses.
+RaitoYagami88 wanted to write just that)
Actually they did have horses at some point. Can thank the Spanish for that. There were also Dog teams and the like.
+RaitoYagami88 Yeh like NativeDelight said they did have horses, the native american way of life was to go to war and to steal, they stole a lot of horses and they traded with homesteaders and hunters for such things as the rifles which he talks about that they had, but before that they purely relied on arrows etc.
TheGrund well, yeah, but it is still after the contact with western world. Before it, they couldn't 'rode across the prairies', like the guy in video said. Considering that this is a channel about history i think it is appropriate to be nitpicky about details like that)
+Kim Katsu Well yeh i have to agree, but they must have had some horses because i was reading a textbook about it that they can hook up a horse to the Tipi that they live in and just pull it away in case of emergencies but to be honest i have no idea what they used before the western world contacted them.
As a Brit from Yorkshire I have always had great admiration and gratitude for the people of the USA. I always will have. I also understand that countries like mine have perpetrated acts of terrible wickedness in the past. The medals should be recinded. Pride often prevents reconciliation where humility heals.